oh, we're back on? oh, sorry, just reading mika's new book "obsessed." >> well, you weren't the only one, bill, amanda says i stayed up for the release of mika's new book. read it for an hour on the treadmill for an hour before msnbc. >> it's a lot different than what you see on tv. little interesting, mika. all right, great show, everyone, "morning joe" starts right now.

hey, good morning, it's tuesday, may 7th. welcome to "morning joe" on a beautiful, beautiful day. what a beautiful may day. . >> gorgeous. >> with us onset, we've got mike barnicle, political analyst and visiting professor at nyu, former democratic congressman harold ford jr. and "fortune" magazine's assistant editor. we've got so much to talk about. i was really surprised at the last segment on "way too early" talking about chris christie undergoing an operation. chris text us to let us know this story was true or not. also, a lot of other things going on. today, we'll be seeing what the biggest companies in america are. >> we are. >> fortune 500, see who's going up, going down. also, benghazi, this story will not go away. >> yeah. >> we have new testimony that

has come out talking about the military actually trying to get over to benghazi while the riots were going on. >> last-minute changes. >> being told to stand down. don't go over there. and i'll tell you, the people that wanted to get over to benghazi said there's no doubt a show of force would've either calmed the crowds down or at least intimidated them and they think they could have saved a lot of lives. even mike huckabee saying this scandal is not going away. if there's a cover-up, the commentary, of course, a very respected writer said the election's over, benghazi isn't. a lot more to talk about that. also, we have -- so much to talk about. but this first story -- >> oh, my gosh. >> is just -- it's heartbreaking. but at the same time, remarkable story of heroism, especially from one woman. >> so we'll start there in ohio. found alive after ten years, police say three women, amanda

berry, gena dejesus appear to be in good health after a neighbor heard their screams for help. she was emotional when she spoke to the 911 operator. >> help me, i'm amanda berry. >> you need police, fire, or ambulance. >> i need police. >> what's going on there? >> i've been kidnapped and i've been missing for ten years and i'm here. i'm free now. hello? >> yeah, talk to the police when they get there. >> okay. are they on the road right now? >> we'll send them as soon as we get a car open. >> i need them now before he gets back. >> how old is he? >> he's like 52. >> all right. and -- >> i'm amanda berry, i've been o the news for the last ten years. >> okay. >> you can hear her trying to express herself and the 911 operator. three brothers all in their 50s are in custody awaiting charges. two of the young women were in their teens when they went missing, the third was 20 years old.

the neighbor who came to the rescue was as surprised as anyone to discover the missing girls in the house next door. >> heard her screaming, i'm eating my mcdonald's, i come outside and see this girl going nuts trying to get out of a house. so i go on the porch, i go on the porch and she says help me get out. i've been in here a long time. she comes out with a little girl and she says call 911. my name is amanda berry. >> amanda told the police, i ain't the only one, there's more girls up in that house. >> berry reportedly told police the young girl with her at the time of her escape was her captor's daughter. >> there were reports out early on, you don't know if it's true or not, but there were chains in the house, another guy that said he actually barbecued with one of the brothers and had no idea that the women were in the house. i just -- it kind of boggles the imagination, mike, doesn't it? how long were they there?

a decade? >> some of them a decade. >> right in that neighborhood. and nobody -- >> two-story home with an attic. >> there were three girls, young girls kidnapped and chained in this house. >> within a relatively short distance from where they were kidnapped. >> right. >> ten years ago. couple of things. one, we want to wait for the second and third day story to play out. there's clearly a lot more to this story than the first day impressions we've gotten. secondly, while it is incredible, when you think about it for a while, it's not that incredible. we live in an isolated society in many, many cities in this country. you don't know your neighbors. we've had one person testify he barbecued with the guy, you know, over the last ten years. but for the most part, we live in isolation. much more so than ever before. >> it's unbelievable. >> we'll be following that story throughout the day. turning now to the ongoing investigation into the attack on the u.s. consulate in benghazi. according to excerpts released by house republicans, the u.s. diplomat who was in tripoli on the night of the attack told

investigators that u.s. special forces were prepared to fly to the consulate but were told to stand down by regional commanders. the self-described whistleblower said if the special forces were deployed, american lives could have been saved. andrea mitchell has the story. >> reporter: the attack on the benghazi mission started around 9:40 p.m. by 3:00 in the morning, ambassador chris stevens and information officer shawn smith were dead. but two other americans, former navy s.e.a.l.s did not die until a second full assault at 5:15 a.m. several miles away. six special forces commandos flew in from tripoli but couldn't stop the onslaught. house republicans have released an interview with gregory hicks who said he called for military help from four more special forces in tripoli but was

overruled. hicks, a diplomat, not a military officer said i believe if we had been able to scramble a fighter or aircraft over benghazi, there would not be a mortar attack on the annex because i believe the libyans would've split. but they had to stay and defend the embassy in tripoli. as for buzzing the consulate with jets, the closest f-16s were in italy or at least five hours away. for months, republicans have charged cover-up. last january, hillary clinton took the blame but also pushed back. >> what difference at this point does it make? it's our job to figure out what happened and do everything we can to prevent it from happening again, senator. >> but now house republicans say they have state department witnesses who can prove clinton covered up. >> i think it's damaging because it happened on her watch. i think the important thing is that hillary clinton is no longer secretary of state, but

there are many people still at state department who were involved in this at the highest levels who continue to keep their jobs. >> that was nbc news' andrea mitchell reporting. the house oversight committee will hold a full hearing on the september 11th attack. >> you know, the problem here is, mika, obviously is secretary clinton asked what difference does it make? it makes a huge difference. i'll tell you right now, the more this drips out, the more you start thinking, you know, everybody better go back and get their papers in order and get the tick-tock in order. i don't think this is going away. if you had a diplomat over there saying we asked for more support, we asked for more help, we didn't get it. if we had gotten it, then these people would have been alive. you look at chris stevens, the ambassador that was tragically killed, he kept asking for more security. other people in benghazi kept asking for more security.

and the question remains o out there. and there's not a good answer for it. why didn't hillary clinton, why didn't the obama administration provide the basic security that these people were asking for? the people that were on the ground saying we're in danger. and they kept asking for the security. and we have the first u.s. ambassador killed in the line of duty since 1979. it's very serious. >> i think it is. i think the questions are legitimate. i do think that anybody in the white house who sees a decision that wasn't made that could've potentially prevented a loss of life would call it unacceptable. absolutely. and the chaos and the confusion of the day, it sounds like there might have been some decisions they regret. i think what hillary clinton -- >> have we heard that, though? have we heard them come out and say -- >> yes. it's on us. i think her what difference does it make line is the frustration because of the rabid accusations of a cover-up.

and people like darrell issa accusing her of signing cables that get signed -- every single cable gets signed. >> i guess that's a question, was there a cover-up? are they covering up something? >> i don't know. but i don't think so. that's my instinct. >> couple of things are pretty clear. one, this issue is not going to go away as long as darrell issa is chairman of the house oversight committee. and hopefully they'll have an extended hearing and we'll find out more information than we've gotten before. here's what we do know, though. the diplomat who has indicated he felt that the libyans would run away in benghazi. those are on the ground in italy, that's a five-hour flight, they need refueling in the air to get there and back unless you want them to drop into the mediterranean, we know that. we know the special ops team was five or six hours away. it's no the a movie what happened there. all of a sudden, you know, you can't cut to the marines landing

and scaring the crowd away. there's a lot we don't know and that we ought to find out from the -- >> i don't doubt the deputy commander, i forget his exact name, the young fellow, i don't doubt he made these calls, but i think mike's raised the right points. the questions that have to be answered will be answered in the coming days here. could they have responded in time? >> yeah. >> and the point the pentagon made was if they switched from tripoli to benghazi, would that have endangered that unit that was going there? and could it have gotten there quickly enough? so there are a lot of questions to be answered. former republican presidential nominee mike huckabee weighed in saying on his radio show, quote, i believe that before it's all over, this president will not fill out his full term. when a president lies to the american people and is part of a cover-up, he cannot continue to govern. and as the facts come out, i think we're going to see something startling. and writing in commentary magazine, the 2012 election is

over the benghazi scandal is not. the accounts of the benghazi attacks by the obama administration were not simply wrong, they were knowingly and willfully wrong which turns a mistake into a lie. but it's also obvious that the president and his administration wanted to advance a story line that al qaeda was in retreat, the benghazi attacks eviscerated that claim. and so the president and his team decided to disfigure the facts, fit their story and advance their political interests. barack obama had an election to win. and so he had a scandal to hide. and they've been caught in a lie. we're now in the process of seeing how deep and how high the corruption goes. the election is over, the scandal is not. >> we need to get pete on the show and -- >> really, really strong accusations. >> yeah. from a guy that usually, you know, he's not saying that he's not going to serve out his term like mike. >> i don't know about that.

but, i mean, you know -- and just for people who aren't familiar with pete who writes for "commentary," he eviscerated ted cruz in the column before this. i don't know if you read it or not. >> yeah, it's fantastic stuff. pete's a great writer. >> thinker. >> and he's a great thinker. and so when you hear him writing stuff. okay, we do need to dig into it. and i think mike's exactly right. i think they need long hearings, put everything on the table. you're going to have people saying it's a conspiracy for the next 50 years. >> we have a lot of other things to cover. but lee, hillary clinton's health issues kind of muddled the process of trying to immediately answer questions and i think that raised legitimate issues, as well. >> they did. took a long time. >> i'll never forget, i was here at this table that morning. and the confusion and the immediacy of what was happening.

you have to remember, it's, you know, when you're under attack of any kind, i mean, it was -- the details were so muddied and unclear what we were getting from over there. and we were parsing mitt romney's response, which at the time was -- >> oh, in the middle of -- >> a lot of controversy. a lot of things going on. >> yeah. romney came out the next day, it was a terrible political move. his own people said it was a terrible political move. he was talking before he knew what was going on. this is what's so troubling to me about it. again, without any of us knowing all the details, which will come out. the facts just keep getting more muddied the further we get away from this attack. and this incident. >> the white house is going to have to lay everything on the table. there'll be things very embarrassing for him. but as mike knows better than anybody, you know, you've seen it in one story after another story after another story. anybody trying to be too clever by half and trying to keep embarrassing facts from the light of day, it's only going to

blow up. all right. today mark sanford looks to take the final step in his bid for political redemption in south carolina. by standing in his -- but standing in his way and the special congressional election is elizabeth colbert busch. she has led most of the race, no small feat for a democrat in a traditionally deep red district. but in the closing days, sanford has closed the gap to within the margin of error. and a little later in the show, mark sanford will join us live on "morning joe." we also asked elizabeth colbert busch to be on. >> which is interesting. you can run, but you can't hide. she hasn't wanted to come on the show. >> several times. >> i understand why. >> but mike allen was reporting yesterday, when mark sanford goes out with all of his flaws and stupid things he's done, it's mark sanford. you want to talk to mark sanford, he's right there, he'll talk to you. elizabeth colbert busch, her

campaign, she always has advi r advisers all around her. it's hard to get an interview. she sticks to the talking points. she's very safe. i've got to tell you, if you are a democrat running in a red district, that ain't the way to win it. i mean, the way to win it, you've got to actually do the opposite and do what mark is doing. i'm just -- we're seeing erosion in the polls. if she's been this cloistered and careful and safe, what's going on here? >> these races come down to turnout. these special races do and special election races. it'll be interesting to see as you know whether republicans, some may who have had -- does that group stay home? is colbert busch able to get out a big enough democratic turnout? and apparently -- >> well, we know in these type of districts, if you're pro gun, you don't stay home, if you're

pro life, you don't stay home. if you're anti-tax, you don't stay home. >> ordinarily you're right, the question becomes, are there reservations about mark and some of the questions raised about him and the things that have happened in the last few weeks of this campaign. it's going to be interesting, both within the margin of error. you generally think whomever has the majority of voters generally does better. we'll have to wait and see. >> well, very little time. >> and speaking of south carolina really quickly. you guys talked about that clown that runs the democratic party down there, right? >> yes, we did. for quite some time. >> did he step down? >> no, he fully apologized. >> stepped down? >> he's stepping down. he is stepping down. >> but he fully apologized because he wasn't going to apologize. >> he apologized. >> he called -- >> we don't need to repeat it. >> i'm wondering why it took so long. >> because he's not very quick. former vice president al gore is probably best known for

his environmental activism since leaving politics. >> i've been inspired by that. >> yes. >> i have. >> he's very busy in a different arena, as well. >> what do you mean? >> making money. making a lot of money. a new article in bloomberg says al gore isn't just rich, he's romney rich. >> oh, my gosh. is that moral? >> he's a lot of things to a lot of people. among friends and fans, the progressive democrat who should have been president, visionary, author, and internet prophet, the man who more than anyone drove climate change to the center of public consciousness. detractors see him as a limousine liberal, tiresome pendant alarmist who lives a jet setter lifestyle while preach ing for everyone else. whatever you think of gore, one thing is indisputable, leveraging his aura as a technology seer and his political connections, he's remade himself into a wealthy

businessman amassing a fortune that may exceed $200 million. >> $100 million of that from oil, which is, again -- >> that's my point. >> it's a gulf stream five liberal, actually. >> oh, that's awesome. >> and so yesterday i go -- i tweeted, i said, when i grow up, i'd like to be as rich as al gore. if anyone knows where there's $100 million in oil money. >> they think that's irony. it's not irony. if you are a friend of yours or a loved one knows where $100 million in oil money is that i can have, i'll take it. and i will take it without any guilt at all. i've got to say, before we go to break, all the kids everywhere talking about your book. >> no. >> it's -- hey, before. >> first day -- presales. >> number ten before it goes on sale. goes on sale today at all fine

bookstores. we've got to go to break. but yesterday, mika was -- i mean, this was incredible. i saw it like all cool kids on closed circuit tv on my walkman. and do we have the clip of -- you went to "cosmo." >> it was a little saltier and -- >> you swore way too much. >> i'm not going to show you swearing. >> okay. >> i'm going to show you talking to tonya who you almost made cry. >> this is your timing. >> lifelong food addict. i lost a decent amount of weight and i'm convinced, well, i know i have an addictive personality, but i think there's something to the, you know, stuff they put in the food. >> yeah. >> like i -- that really speaks to me. >> let me ask you what you think of yourself right now. >> because i'm going to tell you what i see. want me to go first? >> yes, please. >> how old are you? >> 31. >> how much do you weigh? >> 139.

>> so i think you look really beautiful. i think a guy would think you look really beautiful too. and the weird thing is that men are attracted to women who have full bodies. to have hips and to have boobs and to have arms that they can hold on to. that's what they want sexually, sorry, if you're worried about that, that's what they want. they don't want a bag of bones. stand up. oh, my god -- >> are you going to ask her to take her clothes off? >> no, i'm going to feel her up, though. and you're worried about this, right? no. it looks so good. you're gorgeous. and you don't think so. >> she's right. >> i can tell by the look in your eye and i can tell because you're about to cry. no, i'm serious. but this is not bad. why do we think this is bad? >> so -- >> that's her. >> that was -- >> isn't she gorgeous? okay. this is really out of context. >> no -- >> because it's about men and sex and all that. that didn't come out of nowhere.

>> no, that's the calmest part of it. but mika, the bigger story here is that this is -- and we're going to be talking about it. this is at the end of -- >> an hour long. >> year or two process of you where you found out just how obsessed you were with being thin. >> right. >> and your friend who was overweight and you guys came together. but what you found out by studying was that you were as sick as your friend was and that all women that -- too many women have this obsession, this tyranny of thin as you call it. >> mm-hmm. >> and you're telling her and everybody else, don't be thin, be healthy. >> that's completely unrealistic and not applicable to what really looks good. and by the way, if this is true, he's in the book, chris christie, and we talk about this. we have a very emotional discussion about how he is treated because of his obesity. and the woman who i work with in the book who was extremely overweight considered it, as well, and decided a method of

losing weight that is the step before lap band surgery because she was in that extreme position. and we talk about how women who gain a lot of weight and also women with eating disorders like me just have a completely distorted view as to where they need to be. completely distorted. and so did this young woman, and a couple of them i met yesterday at cosmo radio. >> and this is, unfortunately, society. and the expectations of society. >> it is. >> you look at the barbie dolls that your daughters play with as a young kid. >> it's true. >> they're given distorted images of body from day one. >> it puts a different mirror in front of you. mika comes out in the front of the book, it's amazing, brave, raw, and it's great. and mika has a wonderful voice, i'm not just saying this. you put yourself out there in a way that is just really -- >> my favorite book of hers is

"lean in." >> shut up. >> what i was going to say -- mika -- >> oh, wait. >> people think, oh, you know, what does she know about this? she's a thin, beautiful tv anchor who has it all. that's not the point. it's going on in your own mind. and you were very upfront about it. >> very tired of it all. >> and you picked up like eight dress sizes. >> i picked up 14 pounds since i started this book. >> two since we started -- >> no, you've lost it and you look really good. i did the audio version. >> i wanted you to do it while eating a blueberry muffin. >> there's great people in there. you've got a wonderful snippet from nora efron. >> we spoke to her for a few weeks before she passed away. she was an amazing interview. >> hilarious as always. >> and her joy in delicious food is something that all women should have. >> willie will explain that in a little bit. coming up on "morning joe,"

we've got mark sanford asking him if he's going to win. and if he loses, what's he going to do? and we'll also be talking to steve schmidt, emily senay will join the discussion. and mike barnicle, one of the greatest singers of all time, burt bacharach will be with us. up next, though, not so much of a thrill, the top stories in the politico playbook. we're going to trudge through that anyway. good stories. it's a regular hell-raising segment compared to what's coming up right now. >> i think joe meant to bash me but got confused when he was doing politico. >> no. never get confused. >> no, never get confused. >> let's go to bill karins with a check on the forecast. and, bill, i know you want to know about chris christie as much as the other kids out

there. he's just texted us. >> what did he say? >> no, he was just saying hi. >> he says hi. >> what's happening in the news? >> we're actually looking okay out there, joe. it's going to be a beautiful tuesday with only a few exceptions. unfortunately, washington, d.c. is going to be one of them. look at yesterday, atlanta, by the way, was 59 degrees while seattle was 87. it was nearly 30 degrees warmer in the pacific northwest. this has been an upsidedown spring. we continue to watch a couple of storms on the map. one here, one there, and one off the california coast. there are three cutoff storms. that means they move very slowly. takes two or three days for your weather to improve or get better where you live. the green on the map is the rain headed for washington, d.c. bring the umbrella with you as you head out the door this morning. along with all of your friends in virginia. and eventually philadelphia and southern jersey, the rain will head your way. new york city to hartford, your rain is for tomorrow. looks like mostly tomorrow afternoon.

again, more rains in the mid-atlantic than northeast and new england should stay dry, at least, for today. beautiful day, look at hartford, by the way, 78, warm beautiful degrees in connecticut. the middle of the nation looks nearly perfect and out in the rockies actually not looking too bad. a chance of afternoon showers. you're watching "morning joe" brewed by starbucks. woman: everyone in the nicu -- all the nurses wanted to watch him when he was there 118 days. everything that you thought was important to you changes in light of having a child

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welcome back to "morning joe," we're going to take a look at the morning papers in a second. but i think we can confirm the new york post was talking about it. >> yeah, this happened a while back and i'm so proud of my friend for his kids, for his family, for his own health. >> we just talked to governor

christie. >> he did it. >> lap band surgery and it was a while back, he's fine. and a lot of people who struggle with obesity turn to this as an answer. and it's really -- it does work. it's an extreme choice, but sometimes it has to be made. and i know that my co-author who helped me with the book, collaborate diane smith was thinking about it and did measures literally, she was at one point 256 pounds, took measures with doctors that were literally the last step before this surgery. >> yeah. >> and it's a big decision. i'm glad he did it. >> it is a big decision. what you always say when you talk about this and people will talk about oh, it's just a lack of discipline. you always point to chris christie and say, hold on a second, you've got this guy that took on somebody worth $100 million in a blue state, he won, he's the most popular republican governor in america in a blue state, he works around the

clock, he's turned that state upside down. do you think this guy likes discipline? and everybody says, well, i heard you yesterday on the "today" show, he's an extraordinarily disciplined person, and sometimes as i think it was tamron hall who said it, sometimes odds are just stacked against you in such a way you have to make dramatic steps like governor christie. >> and i'll have to tell you, this surgery for anybody who has judgment about it and thinks, oh, it's just an easy out, this surgery's hard. it's not easy. it's painful, it involves a great amount of discipline before and after. i'm not even sure how he did this while -- it actually feeds into the point you were just making. >> he's a tough, hard charging guy. >> it says in the book, mika, he says to you, people think i don't know, i spend hours in the gym. >> he tried everything. >> he tried everything. and, you're right about the point that was made by tamron on

the "today" show that the odds are stacked against americans and that's what we talk to and sort of solve it in the book how we move forward. a realistic way to move forward when the odds are stacked against most americans and we have an epidemic. one more paper, the "chicago tribune," a man charged with sexual assault. >> hold on a second. so that guy right there is in charge of the air force's anti-sexual assault unit. >> yeah, mm-hmm. >> what happened to him? >> he has been removed from his position pending the investigation according to police reports. he's accused of groping a woman in arlington, virginia and is now being charged with sexual battery. reported assaults have reached new highs. assaults jumped 6% over 3,300 in 2012, but only reported attacks. the number of people who made

anonymous claims they were sexually assaulted skyrocketed from 19,000 to 26,000 between 2011 and 2012. >> and mika, a number you don't see there tragically, the number of women that decide they need to just say nothing. >> exactly. because they're in the military and afraid they'll face retribution. >> if there's ever an example as to why we need more women -- >> i think you would need a woman in charge of the sexual assault units. >> that's a good point, actually. >> that's a good point. >> that might be a good point to look at moving forward. >> okay. jim vandehei joins us, and you've got bloomberg topping the politico news this morning. take it away. >> yeah, in the past you've talked about republicans voting against the gun bill.

what democrats are worried about is the fact that in arkansas, senator pryor's numbers could take a hit by bloomberg's group and other folks on the other side of the gun debate and pleading for him to back off the democrats up in 2014 worried it could cost them a seat. arkansas's one of the most competitive senate seats in 2014, it's conservative, occupied by -- >> jim, you understand, jim, mike bloomberg doesn't care if someone's a republican or democrat. >> that would be the message he gave to harry reid's office. >> if they're worried about mark prior, they need to be worried because he's going to keep pouring money -- it's going to kill him politically. i've been hearing, we believe people would switch their votes if we had another vote. kelly ayotte and pryor said he was open to it if you make small changes.

>> and i think that's the pressure that they want to apply on these guys. and people, politicians always respond to the immediate incentive, which is for most of them getting reelected the next time. and start to feel like they're taking a hit back home and feel like the politics are working against them, i think it does have an effect on the psychology of how someone's going to vote. and for the longest time, people have assumed that the politics of gun control are you stay away from it. don't do any new gun controls. the folks are a much more aggressive in campaigns than the other side. >> that's not the case. kelly ayotte is getting hammered. a lot of other people. and there's another side of this. there's the carrot and the stick. we've seen what's happened with the stick. the carrot, of course, and you know other democrats. if you're mark prior, you're looking at mary landrieu, seeing her approval ratings going up. so it's not just, hey, i'm going

to get punished if i vote against background checks now they're looking and saying, wait a minute, i might pick up percentage points from both parties if i support background checks for criminals, terrorists, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. this is a winner. and mark prior would mark prior like to gain five points in the polls or lose five points in the polls? does he want to win or lose? >> i think it would be an interesting realtime political science experiment if they have another vote in the next month after these politicians have looked in the polls to see what reaction they do have to it. if it does have an effect in new hampshire, in arkansas.

clearly everyone's talking about it, doing their own polling and trying to make that calculation. the politicians aren't going to change until they feel like the public's mood has changed. and i think they feel like they get mixed data. they look at the high-end numbers and see their numbers might be going down but look at the constituents' calls coming in and hearing largely from the pro gun crowd. they hear a lot more from them. and that's the reason they voted the way they did the first time around. they have to feel like the politics have changed in their own state before their own personal politics. >> they get the phone calls coming in from the people who stayed home and are driven to make phone calls and look at the polls of everybody else. and see that the phone calls aren't matching up with the numbers. and i've been in the middle of this before several times. you realize it's a small percentage and they're heated and certainly relevant to the process, but you realize it is a

small group, subset of the constituents you serve. i think the next vote's going to be fascinated. >> it also puts harry reid at an interesting place. does he want to bring up another vote if he thinks pryor will switch his vote. don't forget, harry reid wants to be in the majority, looking at the seats in 2014, a lot of them are pretty conservative. and he's a political guy. he's trying to think about whether or not this hurts or helps the party. not always about the policy, often about the politics animating the debate. >> really quickly, isn't it fascinating what's happening with ted cruz. you're actually getting people with commentary, a very conservative guy going after ted cruz's antics. you've got the "wall street journal" opinion page talking about him. these days, seems like he's being attacked by republicans for his grand standing as much as he is liberals. >> he's a great case study in

you have this debate between the establishment and the activists about hard line should you be? should you pick a philosophical principle fight on each and every issue and use every tactic you can to get your way. and cruz would say, yes, that's exactly what you do, we're principle conservatives, that's what we do. a lot of folks in washington recoiling from that approach. marco rubio has taken a much different approach, specifically on immigration, but other issues than cruz has. and you see a lot of people who control a lot of money in town saying you know what, we can't do that on each and every fight because we end up marginalizing ourselves and making it impossible to win in anything owner a deeply red state. >> also, of course, show boating calling out other senators in private conference meetings. it's, you know, we predicted from the very beginning, he needs to keep his head down, marco rubio's done a great job doing that and realized he's in a small boat except for the fact he's saying he's running for president. >> got elected last week and now

running for president. good luck with that. coming up, the syrian civil war threatens to engulf the entire region with both israel and iran sizing up the situation. >> do you see, iran is trying to start a regional war here and this is unbelievable. >> this is ugly. nbc's foreign correspondent will join the discussion ahead on "morning joe." for seeing your business in a whole new way. for seeing what cash is coming in and going out... so you can understand every angle of your cash flow- last week, this month, and even next year. for seeing your business's cash flow like never before, introducing cash flow insight powered by pnc cfo. a suite of online tools that lets you turn insight into action. are you still sleeping? just wanted to check and make sure that we were on schedule.

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i'll take it from west, texas, crude, saudi oil money. i'll take -- do you think qatar still has cash for me? >> well, i think that, you know, since you're a republican, you like money. >> i can't take the cash from iran. i think they'd throw me in jail, right? >> no, you don't want to take. >> launder it through switzerland. >> i'll take swiss oil money. i want oil money. for my friends watching, i'm not being ironic. i want $100 million. like al gore. >> except you don't have any, but he does. up next, according to bloomberg news, al gore is not just rich, he's romney rich. oh, it's not oil money? >> it is oil money. >> it's -- >> are you going to go there? >> some of the money's apple money. he built the network. >> isn't some of it oil money? >> well, i'll tell you what, if you will just give me his oil

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with us now, the editor in large in bloomberg news. former vice president al gore is quote romney rich, i want some of that money. of course -- i'm, of course, fascinated by the oil side of it. but he's made a lot of money from a lot of different sources. >> he had $100 million payday in january. thatst that's a good january. >> that's oil money. >> some of it was apple money. he was lucky enough to join in 2003 when it was trading at $50 a share. 59,000 options in january and do the math on the share price. >> and he still has more to cash in. >> he would've made more if he'd done it a year when apple was at 700. >> right. >> well, he still has a lot of upside. i'm not sure he's sold any of his options, more than 101,000

apple options. how did he get to this point? >> it's timing. you know, he actually -- they love al gore in silicon valley. they love him. he was certainly instrumental in talking about these kinds of things way ahead of everyone else. when this place heats up and starts doing well, there's al gore, he gets invited. steve jobs personally said to al come be on my board. jobs wanted gore to run for president in 2008. this is how much they love this guy out there. google gets him on as a senior adviser before google is a common household word, before they went public. here's the guy sitting at the right place, right time. we'd all love to have apple at 750 a share. >> he can make some contributions along the way. not as if they hired him and all

the companies went down. his current tv. we can fight about whether or not it's been bought, and i think he has to answer and recognize -- >> give me the question. >> well, he has been as you made clear, a promoter, defender, advocate for green energy. >> fossil fuels bad, destroying the world, florida's going to be under the water in 50 years. >> i think those questions are entirely fair. i think the premise that may be coming out of this, all fairness to mr. wells, he did all this the right way. there's no questions about legality and -- >> no, nobody's saying that. >> he's an entrepreneur who has made investments. >> he's just made -- >> what's he supposed to do? after 2000, you know -- >> the guy has been morally preening over fossil fuels for our entire adult life and then he sells current tv to oil money. it is oil money. it was a transfer from oil out of the ground. >> if he made all that apple

money. >> one could also argue that company then paid $70 million to a guy whom they believe, we believe in natural gas and theses fossil fuels, you sold to a guy that's going to use a good portion of that money to try to put us out of business by investing in all of the things that have allowed him to make a pretty penny. >> go ahead. >> current tv was a dog, you know. >> it was a dog. >> they were going to replace you. they were going to kick msnbc off the air. >> that never worked. >> they tried to do it again by bringing in keith olbermann. that was a public relations disaster. they were shopping the thing, time warner cable said we're pulling the plug, you're among the low-rated stations and al-jazeera drops from the moon or the desert and offers this -- >> let me be clear about this. i'll take $100 million of oil money. >> of course you would have. >> but al gore doing it, he could've found another source. >> well, we've got an interesting evolution here. like al gore, the kind of

warring sides between al gore, the environmentalist and al gore the capitalist. he is a capitalist. this was a great business decision. you can argue about the price. >> i'd want him to negotiate my next deal. but there's fair questions to the point of whether you are being a little bit hypocritical if you sell to this company. if you're going to take part of that money and invest in the things -- >> $75 million -- >> that ain't a little bit of hypocritical. but al gore, though, good businessman. >> people don't realize between silicon valley and hollywood, america has minted a huge number of progressive millionaires. >> right. >> and billionaires. >> these people love al gore. they love him. they like doing business with him. they like his politics. every step of the way, he's been able to sort of align himself with people who have a lot of money and who are very smart. he's very engaged. he earns his money in silicon valley. he does his homework.

you know, he's not just there as a figure head. >> they like him because he's a part of helping him make -- >> and the guy's a visionary, no doubt about it. >> there's an irony, though, generation investment management and they put something like 50 million to 100 million growth fund. it's also a dog. basically most -- you know, very successful, but the green tech stuff is not doing very well. >> not making money. he hasn't made his money in green tech. he's made his money in texas t., ba tea. >> al gore is romney rich. i want to be romney rich. ken wells, thank you so much. still ahead, the "washington post" eugene robinson, and his column addresses the call for some lawmakers to intervene in syria. in gene's words, have we learned nothing from iraq and afghanistan? >> we have, i think that's the

problem. >> in the "washington post" today that asks when we're going to intervene. we'll talk about that and a lot more when "morning joe" continues. tdd: 1-800-345-2550 searching for a bank designed for investors like you? tdd: 1-800-345-2550 schwab bank was built with tdd: 1-800-345-2550 all the value and convenience investors want. tdd: 1-800-345-2550 like no atm fees, worldwide. tdd: 1-800-345-2550 and no nuisance fees. tdd: 1-800-345-2550 plus deposit checks with mobile deposit, tdd: 1-800-345-2550 and manage your cash and investments tdd: 1-800-345-2550 with schwab's mobile app. tdd: 1-800-345-2550 no wonder schwab bank has grown to over 70 billion in assets. tdd: 1-800-345-2550 so if you're looking for a bank that's in your corner, tdd: 1-800-345-2550 not just on the corner, tdd: 1-800-345-2550 call, click or visit to start banking with schwab bank today. meet the 5-passenger ford c-mc-max one. c-max two.

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. still ahead, former governor mark sanford joins us as voters in south carolina decide today whether or not to send him back to the u.s. congress. up next, the "washington post" eugene robinson and steve

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choose double miles or 2% cash back on every purchase every day. what's in your wallet? [ crows ] now where's the snooze button? wow. look at that chopper shot. welcome back to "morning joe." harold ford jr. is still with us. >> beautiful, isn't it? >> and joining us from washington, associate editor of the "washington post" and political analyst eugene robinson. >> i'm glad he's here. gene, really quickly before we

go to the other people. honeyboo-boo's parents reportedly getting married. what's your response in washington? >> i think there's shock and dismay, but general rejoicing. >> what does it say about us? what does it say about us that honey boo-boo's parents are coming together and getti intin married? >> i think this is a seminal moment the evolution. >> there's no doubt, we're coming together. people are getting married. bill bennett was right. the societal forces that were pulling us apart in the '60s are now bringing us together. and i do suspect that 100 years from now, people studying such things. i don't know what you call them, sociologists, i don't know, what will -- i don't know what they'll be called 100 years from now. they'll look back to this date, this moment. >> think about that. >> this is when we started --

when we started -- >> honey boo boo. >> you haven't seen honey boo boo? >> all i know because i caught a little piece of it -- >> you can't just get a little. >> can't just get a little. >> can't just get a little. and we're not going to talk about it any more. and here's msnbc political analyst steve schmidt. you've seen honey boo boo before. >> i've seen it one time. i couldn't take my eyes away. it's amazing. it drew me in and -- >> leigh gallagher's here. fortune 500, who is number one? >> number one is walmart with $469 billion in revenue. >> yeah. that's great. >> yeah. >> we're going to be talking about that and we're going to see -- >> have you seen duck dynasty? >> no, i have not. >> you need to see "duck dynasty." >> compelling tv. >> we're going to start. can we please, to the news? i'm begging you. >> we're going to talk about

"obsessed" burning up the charts. >> don't make fun of me. thank you. >> chris christie, you talked to chris christie last hour. he's had surgery. >> he's in "obsessed" and we talked about whether or not he should get that surgery. anyhow, it's an amazing story. that is big news. >> that is huge, i'm excited about that. i need surgery to expand my brain, do they have that? what? >> your brain is big enough. >> i think somebody stapled it when i was young, i want to take the staples out and let it expand. >> when joe says things like that, i just say roll tide. >> let's get started on this amazing story, mika. >> it starts in ohio, found alive after ten years, police say three women, amanda berry, gena dejesus and michelle knight appear to be in good health after a neighbor helped them escape from a home in cleveland. berry was extremely emotional when she spoke -- >> so these girls were kidnapped

for ten years. >> yes, in their teens and one was 20 years old, they were held captive in one house. >> one was 14, one was 16, another was 20. i think one of the girls had a baby with the captor. >> we don't know that. there was a young child taken from the house. we don't know any of that yet. obviously there's a lot more of this story. and most investigators and people who do this kind of work trying to find these people do not have an ending like this where they're found alive. >> right. there was jaycee dugard a couple years ago. >> exactly. this is incredible. and you can hear on amanda berry's voice when she's trying to explain who she is, she's having a hard time getting it across. take a listen. >> hello, police, help me, i'm amanda berry. >> you need police, fire, or ambulance? >> i need police. >> what's going on there? >> i've been kidnapped, and i've been missing for ten years and i'm here. i'm free now. hello?

>> yeah, talk to the police when they get there. >> okay. are they on the road right now? >> we're going to send them as soon as we get a car open. >> no, i need them now before he gets back. >> how old is he? >> he's like 52. >> all right. and -- >> i'm amanda berry, i've been on the news for the last ten years. >> oh, my gosh. >> imagine getting that call. >> i know that 911 operators get tons of crazy calls and this one must have sounded crazy. but if you're amanda berry and they say, when we get a car open, we'll stop by. are you kidding me? i don't think so. she was like, no. >> the headline. she's like, look at the news. >> unbelievable. >> everything she said was absolutely true. >> who was behind this? >> well, there's three brothers as far as police know at this point. all in their 50s, in police custody right now awaiting charges. two of the young women were in their teens as we mentioned when they went missing, the third was 20 years old. the neighbor who came to the rescue was as surprised as

anyone to discover the missing girls in the home next door. >> heard screaming, i'm eating my mcdonald's, i come outside, and i see this girl going nuts trying to get out of a house. so i go on the porch -- i go on the porch and she says help me get out. i've been in here a long time. she comes out with a little girl and says call 911, my name is amanda berry. amanda told the police, i ain't the only one, there's some more girls up in that house. >> it's unbelievable, it's unbelievable what courage she had. >> yeah. sounds like she took a run for it and took a lot of chances and broke away and probably saved everybody else. >> somebody else said -- >> that's her in the hospital to the right there. >> somebody else said they barbecued with one of these brothers. >> with one of the guys who lived in the house or kidnapped these girls allegedly would barbecue with the neighbor,

drink, i think, mojitos and listen to music and had no idea the neighbors that there were at least three women and a child living in the house trapped in the house. >> unbelievable. >> there's so many unanswered questions. we'll be following every part of this and as soon as we bring in information, we'll bring it to you. turning now to other news. the ongoing investigation into the attack on the u.s. consulate in benghazi. according to excerpts released by house republicans, a u.s. diplomat who was in tripoli on the night of the attack, told investigators that u.s. special forces were prepared to fly to the consulate but were told to stand down by regional commanders. gregory hicks at the time the deputy chief mission said he called for military help for more special forces operatives in tripoli but was overruled. he told house republicans, quote, i believe if we had been able to scramble a fighter air or aircraft or two over benghazi as quickly as possible after the attack commenced, then there

would not have been a mortar attack in the annex the next morning because i believe the libyans would've split. but the pentagon said they had to stay and defend the embassy in tripoli. >> this is more information keeps coming out. this information is damning, reminds me when les aspen was asked for more support in somalia and refused to send that support. now we have a similar situation where you had the ambassador who was the first u.s. ambassador killed in the line of duty since 1979 asking the state department. asking the obama administration for more support. needed more security. he warned repeatedly of problems on the ground. and then we find out that night that actually you have somebody ready to move with special forces and they get the order to stand down.

more information comes out and it's more damning information. i don't think we've heard the end of this benghazi story. >> we haven't. and it's now taking place outside of the context of a presidential campaign. this was debated at the height of that campaign. it was politicized, politicized by governor romney. but now as this information comes out as we look more deeply what happened over the months to come, this isn't looking great for the administration and for the initial stories. >> i mean, the more we hear, the more muddied this becomes and the worse it looks for the administration. because you always say, we've got to let this play out, we'll let them investigate it. and when the details come out. the details are really starting to come out now again with this testimony, he's going to be testifying before the steven hicks, going to be testifying before the house committee. i suspect we'll learn even more in the coming days. >> we will. and it may take more time, but we'll learn exactly what happened that evening. and i think people who dissembled, people who were less than clear in their initial

answers are going to have explaining to do. >> let's go to gene robinson. gene, you don't want to jump to conclusions. my good friend mike huckabee is saying that barack obama's not going to serve out his second term because of this. maybe mike has some information i don't have. but even looking at it from a distance, removed from this, you can look at it and say, hey, a lot of this stuff doesn't seem to line up right and it appears the white house needs to get as much information out as possible as quickly, would you agree with that? >> i would agree with that. i mean, don't forget that people were reassigned and relieved of their duties and gotten rid of because of the -- in the wake of benghazi because the administration's already acknowledged that people made mistakes, made bad mistakes in responding to what was going on. absolutely, let's investigate the whole thing, let's get the facts out. outside of the political context

and see what happened. but, you know, i think let's get the testimony and we'll see. but clear, just from the result, you knew it was not handled as it should have been handled. we'll find out who knew what and who didn't do what on that day. outside the presidential election context, i think this is the best way to find out. >> exactly. and we are -- we have a distance now from the presidential race and all the noise from that race and now you just look at the facts and we'll see where the facts lead us. right now, doesn't look really positive for the administration. gene, while we're in the middle east, i've got an idea for your friends at the washington post. you and richard cohen, you should get a cable in the middle of the newsroom, turn off the lights and shine one light down on the table and you guys should

have an arm wrestling contest to settle the syria thing. every morning you write a column saying we need to stay out of syria, he writes a column saying we need to go into syria or else we are immoral pigs. i, of course, paraphrase. you guys couldn't be any further apart. why do you think it's so important to stay out of syria? >> well, because i don't see what -- i don't see what good we could do there. i don't see how going into syria will necessarily make that situation better. i see how it could make our situation a lot worse by essentially entangling us and bogging us down in yet another middle east war. one that i don't think we fully understand. that i don't think we have a side to back in.

it is a true mess. and i think those who say we ought to do something, ought to say what it is we ought to do. >> before we get to the pottery barn rule that you talk about in your piece, i want to bring in nbc news foreign correspondent -- >> i love pottery barn. >> i know you do. >> they make like new tables look old and stuff like that. >> they do. i'm not sure that's the rule we're talking about. >> makes me feel -- >> like distressed, yeah, i understand that. i'm distressed right now. if you could give us a sense of complexities involved as to make a decision to stay out or get in. >> that's a very good question. there are so many complexities. if you start, first of all, with the ongoing conflict itself, the actual actors insights here are now connected to players outside of the country. in effect what you really have unfolding there is a proxy war. on one hand, you have the regime of president assad backed by the militia group hezbollah backed

by the iranian government, also diplomatically given cover by the russians and chinese at the united nations. you have that dimension. on the other side, you have the rebels divided into two groups. on one hand, you have the -- you know, if you will the free syrian army and political organization backed by countries like saudi arabia, qatar, which are close to u.s. allies including turkey and to some extent the united states. and you have the ultra extremists who ideologically are very different than the other countries represent. it's a very complicated situation. >> and gene, in your column, you talk about how complicated this war would be let's look back over our history with world war ii. with 70 years of hindsight. it's the good war, we won the war. yay. korea, quagmire, vietnam, quagmire, then the first gulf war, which we thought we won but

found out really it was a draw. then the second iraq war, a quagmire. afghanistan, a quagmire. i'll tell you what, a lot of those wars looked a lot cleaner. no war is easy, but they looked easier than syria. are we going to add syria to that list of quagmires? how many americans have been killed in afghanistan this week? 14? still going on in a war that america's not paying any attention to. it's a disaster. are we going to really go to another war? >> you know, and what is the danger in afghanistan now, right, by the way, the bigger danger is our allies in the afghan forces who keep attacking our soldiers while we pay the corrupt karzai government with satchels full of cia cash. but that aside, just looking at

syria, just take one huge issue, for example, the chemical weapons. you know, so if we go in there, right now they're presumably under the control of assad, presumably secured in some way. we go in there and assad falls. what happens to the chemical weapons? who gets them? do we secure them? i've seen an estimate it would take tens of thousands of u.s. troops, boots on the ground just to be sure to secure the chemical weapons. are we going to go there? >> yeah, that's a great question. hey, let's move on now, mika. >> we'll get to the annual fortune 500 list which is out and ranks the largest corporations. take us through the list. who's at the top this year? >> sure, this list is ranking by revenues, it's a sense of scale. the revenue of the largest u.s. corporations and always a neck and neck race between walmart and exxon. and this year, walmart is the top, number one. exxon's number two. and after that, there's a huge

gap by $200 billion to number three which is chevron. >> oil's doing well. exxon, chevron and phillips. >> the scale of the oil companies always puts them at the top of the list. but exxon had revenues decline slightly, but in terms of profitability, exxon's profit is the highest of the entire list at $45 billion. >> so what's going to happen over the next ten years when the united states becomes the number one exporter of oil in the world? do they keep going up more and more? >> they're having trouble. they have to find production and exploration. there's not a whole lot of places they can go anymore. even though they're at the top of the list, the oil companies are having issues right now. so is walmart. >> i would like to have their issues, al gore's issues, as well. go through the rest of the list. >> sure, the rest of the top ten, berkshire hathaway. i got back from the annual meeting. i brought you a present. it's a commemorative issue, it's

got warren buffett on it. this meeting was unbelievable. everybody should see it at some point, it's 42,000 people. apple breaks into the top ten for the first time. apple is tremendously profitable. >> help me out. so apple, we keep hearing that tim cook, stock's going down. but here, they're growing. >> yeah, they're growing. they've been growing. that hasn't been the issue. it does have, you know, the stock has been really mystifying a lot of people. it's got competitive issues. >> what's the trend line with gm. >> last year they were couple slots down. they were -- >> they're growing. >> 27 looks like. >> they were five last year. they've slipped a little bit. >> slipped a little bit? what about ford? >> not great. they've had trouble kind of capturing the surge in auto sales a little bit. so they've had some profitability issues both of the

car companies. >> any surprises on the list for you as you're looking? >> well, facebook is brand new for the first time. and the youngest ceo on the list next to marissa mayer. these days you can go from zero to fortune 500 in a decade or less whereas in the past, it would have taken 30 years. who knows. >> that's unbelievable. >> four top ten interview companies, does that mean you approve keystone where jobs will be created in the future. should the administration or people take a look at that. >> i think that's safe to say. >> american energy companies. >> what we need is for these companies to start hiring. for demand to start coming back. so profit is not as high as it was last year. so we think the era of huge profits may be slowing a little bit. in fact, warren buffett said that at the meeting. >> thank you so much. before we go to break, what's

the latest? i didn't ask you this, what's the latest on the question about chemical weapons? yesterday, of course, you and other people reporting it may have been the rebels using chemical weapons. what are we going to do moving forward? is the united nations investigating? what's going on? >> by the end of the day, it was widely dismissed as a single account from a u.n. official who was not involved in the actual investigation for chemical weapons. right now the white house shot it down saying the rebels, a, don't have the capability, and b, questioned whether they had the intent to use it. so many questions about why the rebels would want to use chemical weapons. it wouldn't have a tactical advantage at all in being able to tip the balance of the fight on the ground in their favor. there was a lot of questions and suspicion about whether or not the rebels had it and whether if they did they would use it. that's where it ended by the end of the day. >> all right. stay with us. >> thanks a lot, it's great having you here. >> thank you. >> a packed hour ahead. dana brown joins us with the

magazine's new issue. plus, burt bacharach will be here onset. republican candidate and former governor mark sanford joins us next. you're watching "morning joe" brewed by starbucks. [ male announcer ] this one goes out to all the allergy muddlers. you know who you are. you can part a crowd, without saying a word... if you have yet to master the quiet sneeze... you stash tissues like a squirrel stashes nuts... well muddlers, muddle no more. try zyrtec®. it gives you powerful allergy relief. and zyrtec® is different than claritin® because zyrtec® starts working at hour one on the first day you take it. claritin® doesn't start working until hour three. zyrtec®. love the air. the wright brothers became the first in flight. [ goodall ] i think the most amazing thing is how like us these chimpanzees are. [ laughing ] [ woman ] can you hear me?

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welcome back to "morning joe." joining us mark sanford. mark, good to have you on the show this morning. how are you feeling? >> well, you know, worn out, all the things i guess you feel at the end of a campaign. >> okay. so what do you think? first of all, everyone's saying you're going to leave politics if this doesn't go through. what's your attitude on the day before knowing how this is going to turn out? >> well, i mean, you know, as joe can attest, harold's there

onset. you spend months of your life rather intensively out talking to people, talking about ideas you believe in, talking about themes you think are important in terms of the direction of the country. and you get ultimately to the day of judgment and today is that day and, again, you feel a mixture of calm in that you've worked so hard and you're waiting for the verdict. and at the same time as i mentioned a moment ago, worn out and it's been a long five months. >> and given, you know, the journey that you've been on and the personal issues at play, how are the polls looking in terms of women and certain votes you might have lost given all that's happened? >> well, you know, well chronicled deficiencies as a candidate and human being. and we've walked through those at length here in the first congressional district. but i also have equally well chronicled record in terms of

watching out for the taxpayer, whether their purse or wallet. and so in essence we've had a conversation here at home. not only about my strengths and weaknesses as a human being, but also my belief in terms of things that ought to be affecting washington, d.c. and, indeed the direction of our country. themes of how do you create more opportunity here in this district. and, in fact, how do you have more in the way of representation, a local ear if you will, than not. so we had a robust conversation as to specific groups. i think we saw those play out. it boiled down to a runoff, won both of those races and now for the last five, six weeks, we've been in this truncated general election. and that election will take place today. >> steve schmidt, wonder what you make of the dynamics of this race and how it's been handled in the press and how each

candidate has handled the sort of careful dynamics of it. >> well, this is a south carolina special election, this is a republican seat. obviously because of the congressman's scandalous behavior, he's in a difficult position. he's under 50%. it's a toss-up, anything can happen in a special election. what i'd be curious to know is what's the last thing, congressman, what's the last thing, governor, that you want voters focused on as they go into the poll here? obviously not on your past behavior. >> well, it has absolutely been the topic of much conversation here. it's been the topic of about $1 million worth of attack ads against me. it's not a new issue. i think, though, there are two interesting trend lines that have emerged in the last couple of weeks of the campaign. we finally had a debate. we've been asking for a debate. finally got a debate.

in the aftermath, when we begin to lay out on where we sit in a whole host of issues, there was a real contrast and i think that ultimately has helped us. we will see -- >> what other contrasts? >> it's helped us because -- >> well, for instance, take something as simple as obama care. i think you look at the, you know, the numbers and they say it's going to add over $6 trillion to the national debt. a variety of different levees and levels. and there's genuine concern here. >> what's the difference between -- >> on one side -- >> well, i mean, i'm decidedly against it and decidedly for defunding it if you had the chance to do so. and my opponent is not. but my main point is we begin to finally talk issues as opposed to just personality and as opposed to going back to the events of 2009. our minister gave a great sermon a couple weeks ago and due to

the event of your life define or redefine your life. people want to take any event that was not good and make it definitional to your life. and i think a lot of conversations have moved, talking around through people in the district, no, we're all going to make mistakes in life. we all have feet of clay, but those events can be not definitional but refining to our lives and become a better person for it. one, there's been conversation on issues, the other has been a conversation on the degree to which this race has been nationalized. this is the first congressional election, special congressional election since the president was reelected. it's the only special election now taking place in the country. and what many have said is, wait a minute, nancy pelosi and associated groups didn't pour in more than $1 million into this race for independents. they poured in for a safe vote and has much to do with the president's strategy of taking back the house in 2014 because what many people have come to

believe down here is that if they could pull off a win here, they could make the case to the political investor community as to why they could win the over 16 seats. >> we don't have a lot of time left. we're going to do some quick questions, quick answers. >> okay. so we should note that we asked elizabeth colbert busch to be on the show, she declined. for those who agree with your opinions and your -- the issues on your record and your opinions on debt, the deficit and governing, but are concerned about how you left office and what happened. how do you answer the question, can voters trust you? >> well, i'd turn it around to you, mika, i'd say, i guarantee, we don't know each other at a personal level. but i guarantee you've made some mistake in your life where somebody could raise that very question to you. i could turn it around to anybody on the set and say, one event does not define your life. i had an old-timer come to me

and say, you know, i'm not going to judge you on your worst day any more than on your best day. >> mark, what if i screw up every day? i am human mission field. will people forgive me if i make horrible mistakes every day. is that okay? >> well, i guess it'd be tough if there was a pattern every day. you might be stretching it with the -- >> i somehow managed to get by. let's go to gene robinson. gene will tell you how to screw up every day. >> i have a couple quick questions. my first, governor, you did pay a fine, as i recall, for ethics violations in conjunction with that personal history of yours. how have you explained that to south carolina voters? and also, as polls have tightened, have you gotten any sort of response from national republicans who abandoned you. >> i love when gene speaks

french, i don't know what he said, but it sounded good. >> well, you know, i think we've explained it because it's explainable. without going into the details, basically it boiled down to half of those fines were because we used business class tickets on on legitimate trcommerce trips. every other governor in the past, go down the list have used business class tickets. but when people say, wait a minute, you're telling me he got this because he used business class tickets on and he was singled out? senators were on the same trips with me. every secretary of commerce, senior level staff within commerce. it was not an anomaly. some people have said well, in that regard, it seemed like a witch hunt. i'm not saying it was that, but there was more to the story than met the eye. >> how would you vote on the background legislation, guns?

>> i'm a big second amendment person. a and, so, the present bill i would have voted no because i think you've got to dig down deep to define what a gun show is. if it's a couple of guys in the back of a pickup truck trading a gun, i don't know if that fits as a gun show. >> depends on what they're trading it for. >> harold ford, governor, quick question in the same vein my friend asked, how would you vote on an immigration bill? one highly proposed by marco rubio and your own senator lindsey graham. >> what i would say is i think we can learn from history with regard to policy. and the last big immigration bill was in 1986 with the simpson missoula bill and offered amnesty down the line. reagan signed that bill into law believing that would be the case. ultimately the enforcement never came and as a consequence,

having a conversation about 11 million undocumented workers years later. i think you've got to reverse it and begin with enforcement first before you get to amnesty. i would not support the goal in the present form. i do like what it does with regard to high-tech workers and i think we probably need to have more of a conversation on low-tech workers and against worker programs. >> all right. mike sanford, thank you so much. good luck tonight. >> thank you, mark. >> thank you, as well. you're going to be looking, of course, your column in the washington post. in syria, that arm wrestling contest between you and your fellow "washington post" columnist. on tomorrow's show, we'll be talking to mike thompson and peter king. they have come together to bring the background check for criminals and terrorists in the house. sort of a manchin/toomey version in the house. we'll be back in a moment on "morning joe."

hey, mika, yesterday you spoke with cosmo magazine, something i do every day. >> cosmo radio. >> it was unbelievable. >> it was very salty. >> it was very salty. you added a good bit of the seasoning yourself.

>> no, i didn't. >> yes, you did. f-bombs being tossed around like hand grenades like a war zone. it's war out there, ladies. >> it's okay to say where. >> editor at large was on cosmo radio with mika and shared some stories, you did, about your former colleague gayle king during her time on local tv. >> this is in a book. >> i know it's in a book. >> talking about getting her -- just take a listen. it makes me uncomfortable. >> told me the story about being at channel 3 in hartford and going into a meeting with our news director, our boss and a list of stuff, the lighting because she was just starting a 5:00 show. a list of stuff to talk about, the lighting, the set, gayle's butt. >> on a list. >> and she's like i see my butt on a list and he gets to gayle's butt and says that, you know, when we shoot the side angle, your butt is kind of hanging

over the chair. and she was like, i cannot believe i am having this conversation about my butt at that same tv station on that same set i used to make sure i was so cut i had no ass. i have to tell you, i wish that i had gayle's butt because it would have been self-confident and beautiful. that's what she was and that's why people liked her in connecticut, why everybody watched her show because gayle was real and said what she thought and she had a butt. i'm serious. but here i was killing myself to be this unlikable character. >> this is really out of context in this show. >> i think i told you not to put that -- >> we're going to dial back. >> can we -- >> don't play number one because she's throwing around more f-bombs than al pacino in scar face. and don't do the third one because we don't want to talk about gayle king's -- >> she has self-confidence. >> you were very confident when you did that interview.

what was your bigger point and if you can do it without talking about gayle king's posterior, i would appreciate it. >> the point is she didn't listen, has great figure and she's confident, looks great, she eats what she wants and has an incredible career. >> while you're sitting around eating leaves and running five miles a day. >> i was making myself into a little stick of a person. >> tofu girl. >> tofu girl. and you've got to be exactly who you are and what your body is supposed to be. and i think women have completely lost sight of that and that's one of the messages in the book, find your set point and live be it. >> and don't be obsessed. >> don't show these little clips out of context and me using bad words on morning television. >> to listen to mika swear and talk about other people's butts, you can also talking about her book "obsessed," tune into cosmo radio channel 109 tomorrow. >> it's a fun interview in context. >> i hope they bleeped it all

out. and tonight, mika is kicking off her book tour at the philadelphia free library. >> we have to be there at -- >> at 7:30 p.m., fireworks, clowns. >> joe scarborough. >> and on thursday, you can meet mika at the politics and prose bookstore in washington, d.c. at 4:00 p.m. i think we're doing a politico event that night. >> yep. >> 7:00 p.m. >> but coming up this morning. >> yes. >> on "morning joe." betting big on hollywood. the cover story goes behind the scenes for one of the world's top stars. we've got deputy editor dana brown joining us straight ahead. keep it right here on "morning joe." creativity. ingenuity. leadership. these are skills we see in great actors and great teachers, which

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up next, he's written more than 70 top 40 hits for everyone from cher to neil diamond, grammy, oscar and emmy award winner burt bacharach when "morning joe" comes right back. with the new staples rewards program

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legendary grammy, oscar and emmy award-winning song writer, burt bacharach, has written more than 70 top 40 hits. he's the author of the new book, "anyone who had a heart: my life and music." it is an honor to have you here on the set. >> great honor to have you here. so many questions i have about your music, your songs, your life. i've got to start with the first question, the title. "anyone who had a heart." what's the significance? >> well, there is a song we wrote called "anyone had a heart," big hit. >> yeah. >> and love the song. and -- >> and why did you choose that of all the songs as your title of the book? >> i think because i'm trying to put my heart in the book. >> yeah. >> and what this whole journey has meant for me. you know. and it's been quite a journey. >> it's been an incredible journey. mike and i were just talking before you came on. and i googled you about six months ago when i was listening

to xm, and i said this guy has had so many hits and i went down the list. mike, the songs are incredible. but the artists, too. the people. >> the range of different artists. you have provided many of us with a sound track for our lives. >> exactly. >> and -- but the range of artists from gene pitten to dionne warwick, bj thomas, jackie de shanen. i'm wondering, one song in particular, "do you know the way" 24 hours to tulsa or san jose. both those songs. do you pull over and write lyrics? >> "24 hours from tulsa," we wanted to write a miniature movie, make the song a miniature movie and tell a whole story. and how they wrote a great lyric and told a story of what can can happen. a guy gets in a car. 24 hours from tulsa. >> yeah. the songs -- "rain drops keep

falling on my head" "alfie" "what the world needs now" "the look of love." is goaes on and on. you've got a hilarious story about "raindrops keep falling on my head" one of the top songs in the 1960s and robert redford was on a couple weeks ago and he said when he saw the final cut of the movie, i don't get it. why do they have that song in there, it's not even raining. and then i'm reading that this song got no respect also from ray stevens, who is very hot at the time. >> very hot. >> and he heard it, and said, what. >> studio brought him out to see the picture. hear the song. he didn't like the movie. he didn't like the song. got him on the plane and went back. went back to nashville. >> so they get bj thomas and it becomes i think -- if i remember the second or third biggest song of the 1960s. right behind "hey jude."

>> there was an interesting thing -- george royhill took a real shot. i was scoring in the movie. and he wanted something important there. music. and i kept hearing "raindrops keep falling on my head" dummy lyric, but i kept looking at that bicycle seat. and that's how it got written and george royhill had the guts to take that chance. we're talking about a 19 -- what is it -- 19th century. yeah. in bolivia. and a song that sounds like it could work there with a ukulele and also for the bicycle and also be top 40 radio. >> yeah. >> i mean, dick zannic told me after the movie opened, really great guy, running the board at 20th. and he said, half the board want wanted that song out of the

movie. >> yeah. >> i mean, they didn't get it at all. >> nobody got it. it's unbelievable. it reminds me the first time frank capra told jimmy stewart the story of "it's a wonderful life." jimmy stewart said what? and it turns out to be huge and iconic. let me ask a question about song-writing. paul mccartney -- people say paul mccartney writes from the heart, john lennon writes from the head. mike asked the question, how did you come up with these songs? did it get to a point where you really didn't need outside stimulus, outside influence, that you could go inside of your head and create a song? >> i think my life has been sort of sponge-like, whatever i've picked up musically, been influenced by. and i think being in touch with your music is very important. and not ever getting fat -- fat in the sense of, you know -- >> yeah. >> i can't write a song like

"don't make me over." like i did 35 years ago. it's another language to me now. and i've moved on now. so i get excited about projects. we're doing a musical on painted for memory with elvis costello that chuck lorre is going to do. >> who were some of your first influences, growing up in the '30s and '40s? >> in the '30s? there were no influences. my dad was an influence. i wanted to be like my dad, be a football player. go to vmi until i found out it was a militarile school. >> that's hard. >> so much for that. but your influence -- dizzy gillespie? >> once i heard dizzy gillespie, charlie parker, tad namron, got in 52nd street, phony i.d. card, heard the band, suddenly liked music. >> that was it. >> i hated music, hated piano

lessons. >> quick question, do you write for a specific artist or for yourself? >> no. i think when you have an artist, like we had with dionne warwick, you kind of write it like you're tailoring clothes. you see more of what she can do, what she can wear. how she can -- how flexible she is, how wide the range is. >> get into her voice. >> and then you can -- that's a great way to go. when you have an artist. and then writing for specifics. i like that a lot. like when we did "promises promises" we had to write that the songs would match what neil simon's book said. >> we've got to go, but before we do, at the top of the hour -- before we do, we've got to bring up hal david, obviously. an extraordinary partnership. a rough ending. i talked about less than none and mccartney, it's hard being stuck in a room with a piano for

a long time, but obviously you guys together were an extraordinary partnership. >> i feel very, very badly for hal that the one thing -- one greatest goal he would have had was to not be able to get to the white house and receive the gershwin award with me and him last may. and he couldn't get out of the hospital. and that's a heartbreak. >> yeah. >> the book is "anyone who had a heart: my life and music." burt bacharach, thank you so much. such an honor to meet you. more "morning joe" when we come back. ♪ when we made our commitment to the gulf, bp had two big goals:

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♪ good morning, 8:00 a.m. on the east coast, 5:00 a.m. on the west coast. i don't know where it is where you are waking up this morning. i've got to tell you, on the east coast, it is unbelievably beautiful. >> gorgeous. >> if you're still sleeping, if it's 5:00 a.m., and you can hear my voice, stay in bed. >> definitely. roll over. >> you deserve it. you worked hard. your kids, they just won't leave you alone. >> you don't want to see them. >> you never have a second to yourself. this is your time. just wallo in it. take a look at new york city. back with us onset, mike

barnicle, harold ford jr. >> and who is lee gallagher. we start in ohio. found alive after ten years, police say three women, amanda berry, gina dejesus and michele knight appear to be in good health after a neighbor heard their screams and helped them escape from a home in cleveland, ohio. berry was emotional when she spoke to the 911 operator. >> 911. what's your emergency? >> help me. i'm amanda berry. >> do you need police, fire or ambulance? >> i need police. >> okay, and what's going on there? >> i've been kidnapped, and i've been missing for ten years, and i'm here. i'm free now. hello? >> yeah, talk to the police when they get there. we're going to start as soon as we get a car open. >> no, i need them now. >> how old is he? >> he was like 52. >> all right. and -- >> i'm amanda berry. i've been on the news for the last 20 years. >> okay. >> you can hear her trying to express herself and thein

incredit allows of the 911 operator. they were in their teens when they went missing. the third was 20 years old. the neighbor who came to the rescue was as surprised as anyone to discover the missing girls in the house next door. >> her screaming, i am eating my mcdonald's. i come outside and i see this girl going nuts trying to get out of the house. soy go on the porch -- i go on the porch, and she says, "help me get out. i've been in here a long time." she comes out with a little girl, and she says "call 911. my name is amanda berry." amanda told the police, "i ain't just the only one, there's some more girls up in that house." >> berry reportedly told police, the young girl with her at the time of her escape was her captor's daughter. >> there were reports out early on, and you don't know if it's true or not, but there were chains in the house, there was another guy that said he actually barbecued with one of

the brothers and had no idea that the women were in the house. i just -- kind of boggles the imagination, mike, doesn't it, that how long were they there? a decade? >> a decade. >> a decade, right in that neighborhood. and nobody knew? >> two-story home. >> three girls, young girls, kidnapped and chained in this house. >> within a relatively short distance from where they were kidnapped ten years ago. couple of things. one, we want to wait for the second and third-day story to play out, because there is clearly a lot more to this story. >> right. >> than the first-day impressions we have gotten. secondly, while it is incredible, when you think about it for a while, it's not that incredible. we live in an isolated society today in many cities in this country. you don't know your neighbors. now, we've had one person testify he barbecued with the guy over the last ten years. but for the most part, we live in isolation, much more so than ever before. >> it's unbelievable. >> we'll be following that story throughout the day. turning now to the ongoing

investigation into the attack on the u.s. consulate in benghazi. according to excerpts released by house republicans, the u.s. diplomat who was in tripoli on the night of the attack told investigators that u.s. special forces were prepared to fly to the consulate, but were told to stand down by original commanders. the self-described whistle blower says if the special forces were deployed, american lives could have been saved. nbc news chief foreign affairs correspondent andrea mitchell has the story. >> reporter: the attack on the benghazi mission started around 9:40 p.m. by 3:00 in the morning, ambassador chris stevens and information officer sean smith were dead. but two other americans, former navy s.e.a.l.s working as security contractors, did not die until a second full assault at 5:15 a.m. on a cia annex several miles away. six special forces commandos through in from tripoli but couldn't stop the onslaut. now house republicans have

released an interview with gregory hicks who said he called for military help from four more special forces operatives in tripoli but was overruled. hicks, a diplomat, not a military officer said, "i believe if we had been able to scramble a fighter or aircraft or two over benghazi as quickly as possible after the attack commenced, there would not have been a mortar attack on the an ex in the morning, because i believe the libyans would have split." but the pentagon said the commandos had to stay and defend the embassy in tripoli and were not prepared for a combat assault mission. as for buzzing with fighter jets to scatter the attackers, the closest f-16s were in italy, at least five hours away. for months, republicans have charged cover-up. last january, hillary clinton took the blame but also pushed back. >> what difference at this point does it make? it is our job to figure out what happened and do everything we can to prevent it from ever happening again, senator. >> reporter: but now house republicans say they have state

department witnesses who can prove clinton covered up. >> i think it's damaging because it happened on her watch. i think the important thing is that it's -- hillary clinton is no longer secretary of state, but there are many people still at state department who were involved in this at the highest levels, who continue to keep their jobs. >> that was nbc news' andrea mitchell reporting. the house oversight committee will hold a hearing on the september 11th attack in benghazi tomorrow. >> obviously, secretary clinton asked what difference does it make. it makes a huge difference. i'll tell you right now, the more this drips out, the more you start thinking, you know, everybody better go back and get their papers in order. and get the tick tock in order, because i don't think this is going away. because if you have a diplomat that was over there saying we asked for more support, we asked for more help, we didn't get it -- >> you need to look at why. >> if we had gotten it, then these people would have been alive. you look at chris stevens, the

ambassador that was tragically killed. he kept asking for more security. other people in benghazi kept asking for more security. and the question remains out there, and there's not a good answer for it. why didn't hillary clinton, why didn't the obama administration, provide the basic security that these people were asking for. the people that were on the ground saying, "we're in danger." and they kept asking for the security, and we have the first u.s. ambassador killed in a line of duty since 1979. it's very serious. >> i think it is. i think the questions are legitimate. i do think that anybody in the white house who sees a decision that wasn't made that could have potentially prevented a loss of life would call it unacceptable. absolutely. and the chaos and the confusion of the day, it sounds like there might have been some decisions they regret. i think what hillary clinton -- >> have we heard that, though? have we heard them come out and say -- >> yes. it's on us.

>> screwed up, we're sorry. >> what difference does it make line is the frustration because of the rabid accusations of a cover-up. and people like darrell issa accusing her of signing cables that get signed by every -- that get signed every single cable gets signed by the secretary of state. >> i guess that's a question. was there a cover-up. >> and putting her name on it. >> are they covering up something? >> i don't know. but -- i don't think so. that's my instinct. >> a couple things are pretty clear. one, this issue is not going to go away as long as darrell issa is chairman of the house oversight committee. and hopefully they will have an extended hearing. and we will find out even more information than we've already gotten before. here's what we do know, though. that the diplomat who is indicating he felt that the libyans would run away in benghazi, if they were strafeded by f-16s, those were on the ground in italy, a five-hour flight. they need refueling in the air to get there and back unless you want them to drop into the mediterranean. we know that.

we know special ops team was at least five or six hours away. so there's -- it's not a movie, what happened there. i mean, all of a sudden you can't cut to the marines landing and scaring the crowd away. >> pete weiner writes in "commentary" magazine, the 2012 election is over. the benghazi scandal is not. the accounts of the benghazi attacks by the obama administration were not simply wrong, they were knowingly and willfully wrong, which turns a mistake into a lie. but it's also obvious that the president and his administration wanted to advance a storyline that al qaeda was in retreat and the benghazi attacks advice rated that claim. and so the president and his team decided to disfigure the facts to mislead the american people to fit their story and advance their political interests. barack obama had an election to win. and so he had a scandal to hide. and they have been caught in a lie. we're now in the process of seeing how deep and how high the corruption goes. the election is over.

the scandal is not. >> we need to get pete on the show. >> wow. that's really, really strong accusations. >> from a guy that usually, you know -- he's not saying that he's not going to serve out his term like mike. >> i don't know about that. >> but pete weiner -- and people who aren't familiar with pete weiner, writes for commentary. he eviscerated ted cruz in the column before this. i don't know if you read it or not. >> yeah. >> it's fantastic stuff. pete is a great writer. and so -- >> thinker. >> and he's a great thinker. so when you hear him writing stuff, you kind of look -- we really do need to dig into it. and i think mike is exactly right. i think they need to have long hearings. they need to put everything on the table. this whole -- because you're going to have people saying that it's a conspiracy for the next 50 years unless they don't put it all out there. >> we have a lot of other things to cover, but lee, hillary

clinton's health issue has kind of muddled the process of trying to immediately answer questions, and i think that raised some legitimate questions, as well. >> they did. they took a long time. i will never forget, i was here at this table that morning. and the confusion and the immediacy of what was happening. you have to remember, you know, when you're under attack of any kind, it was -- the details were so muddied and unclear what we were getting from over there and then they were parsing mitt romney's response which at the time was, you know owe. >> oh, in the middle -- >> a lot of things going on. >> romney came out the next day, it was a terrible political move, his own people said it was a terrible political move. he was talking before he knew what was going on. but this is what's so -- i think troubling to me about it, again, without any of us knowing all of the details which will come out. the facts just keep getting more muddied the further we get away from the attack. and this incident. >> the hearing -- >> the white house is going to have to lay everything on the

table. there are going to be things that will be very embarrassing for them. but as mike knows better than anybody, you know, you've seen it in one story after another story after another story. anybody trying to be too clever by half, and then trying to keep embarrassing facts from the light of day, it's only going to blow up. all right. today mark sanford looks to take the final step in his bid for political redemption in south carolina. by standing in his -- but standing in his way and the special congressional election is elizabeth colbert-busch. according to at least one poll, she has led most of the race. no small feat for a democrat in a traditionally deep red district. but in the closing days, sanford has closed the gap to within the margin of error. we spoke with the former governor earlier on "morning joe." >> this is an amazing interview. >> our minister gave a great sermon a couple weeks ago, and he said, do the events of your life define or refine your life. in politics, what people want to do is take any event that was

not good and make it definitional to your life. i think what we all know through life and i've heard a lot of these conversations, talking with people through the district, is now we're all going to make mistakes in life. we all have feet of clay. but those events ultimately become -- can become not definitional but refining to our lives and we can become the better person for it. >> mike allen was reporting yesterday, harold, that when mark sanford goes out with all of his flaws and all of the stupid things he has done, it's mark sanford. you want to talk to mark sanford, he's right there, talk to him. elizabeth colbert-busch, her campaign, she always has advisers around her, it's really hard to get an interview. she sticks to the talking points. she's very safe. i've got to tell you, if you are a democrat running in a red district, that ain't the way to win it. i mean, the way to win it, you've got to actually do the opposite and do what mark is doing. i am just -- we're seeing erosion in the polls.

if she has been this cloistered and this careful and this safe, voters are going to -- wait, what's going on here. >> you know, these races come down to turnout, these special races do, and special election races. it will be interesting to see, as you know, whether republicans, some who may have had had some reservations about mark, the way they cast their vote in the primary suggested that. does that group stay home. and is colbert-busch able to get out a big enough democratic turnout. and apparently -- >> we know in the south in these type of districts if you're pro gun you don't stay home. if you're pro life you don't stay home. if you are anti tax you don't stay home. >> but the question becomes, ordinarily you're right. the question becomes are there reservations about mark. and some of the questions that have been raised about him and the things that have happened here in the last few weeks of this campaign. so both -- both within a margin of error, generally take a margin of error district, whomever has the majority of voters generally does better. but we'll have to wait and see.

>> very little time. still ahead, america's food addiction. some science behind the new best-seller "obsessed," mika's book, unbelievable, top ten and just came out. we've got author, investigative reporter michael moss. >> there you go. also, dr. emily senay. you're going to be really surprised about the science of this. and how it's going to change your life. up next, though, a health book of a different color. julia reed joins us here for her new book, "but mama always put vodka in the sangria." >> that's healthy too. this is going to be good. >> first, here's bill karins, always drunk when he does his forecast. what are we looking at today? >> before, after and during. good morning, everyone. the rain this morning is moving towards washington, d.c. looks like we've gotten through most of the morning rush hour drive. but that's about to change. green on the map is the rain. the yellow, some of the heavier rain. even a few thunderstorms showing up just outside of roanoke.

virginia is the target for the worst weather in the country in morning. as i mentioned, that will soon be into washington, d.c. notice the beltway is just fine. but look to your bottom right of your screen, all the rain moving over the chesapeake, a rainy morning in d.c. from 9:00 a.m. until noon. eventually it will work its way up to philadelphia later on today and into tonight and tomorrow light rain for new york city and hartford. not a lot of bad weather, a couple beautiful spots. look at upstate new york, central new england. temperatures indeed in the mid to upper 70s. the water vapor imagery shows the moisture in the air. three spins, cut-off storms, very slow-moving storms. the one over atlanta is the same from last week that was giving us that snowstorm. when we are in a slow weather pattern like this, usually what you see is what you get. it takes a while for these storms to move out of your area. that's why it's still kind of cool today in atlanta, and still rainy down there in areas of virginia. much of the middle of the

country, though, you are looking beautiful. so bottom line, if you're heading out the door in the next half hour or so, the rain is going to pick up in d.c., already a couple sprinkles on the lens. you're watching "morning joe," brewed by starbucks. for seeing your business in a whole new way. for seeing what cash is coming in and going out... so you can understand every angle of your cash flow- last week, this month, and even next year. for seeing your business's cash flow like never before, introducing cash flow insight powered by pnc cfo. a suite of online tools that lets you turn insight into action. [ both laughing ] but our plants were starving. [ man ] we love to eat. we just didn't know that our plants did, too.

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♪ here is now, among her many titles, contributing editor for "garden and gun" magazine, julia reed, author of the book "but

mama always butt putt vodka in the sangria." i love it. i like the title a lot. >> thank you very much. i was sort of thinking i would have a pitcher here. >> that's a good point. >> morning sangria. >> exactly. >> let's just break through the nonsense here. your mom never really told you this. >> did she? >> it's not my mother. it's my mother's best friend. and she did always put vodka in the sangria. i was telling my editor, and that's how it landed on the book. i had a party and was doing the food column for the "new york times" magazine in those days and i had gone to spain and came back and smuggled stuff in from spain to test recipes. and so i called some friends of mine and said i'm going to have this spanish dinner party. and my best friend in new orleans, who is also my -- her mother is my mother's best friend and quite the wild woman.

she said, you know, let me bring the sangria, and i'm like, fine, i don't really care about sangria. and i put some hors d'oeuvres out and i'm in the kitchen maybe 20 minutes, maybe. and i come outside and people are like making out, and they're like falling in the bushes and everybody is talking really loud. and i'm going -- what did you put in the sangria? i know it has red wine and sometimes a hill grand marnier and she goes, a liter of vodka. and i said vodka, and she is looking at me like, yeah, like i'm the nut. and finally she said, well mama always put vodka in her sangria. which said i should be the title of her autobiography, but she is not going to write one so there you go. >> so what are we going to read in here? >> all kinds of stuff about eating, drinking and making merry. >> all over the place. >> all over the place. >> you are talking about meacham's crab meat.

what is the crab meat? >> meacham -- jon meacham, your friend and all of our friends, can be a little bit sarcastic sometimes. and -- >> wordy, as well. >> wordy. but it is to his great, you know, benefit that his wife and i have done lots of entertaining on his behalf. and hosted parties for him and with him and all other things. because imagine if meacham was planning his own party. so when we get into that mode, he sort ofderrisively calls us the crab meat caucus. >> he says no one writes about the things that make our hours glow -- >> can i send you a large check? it was nice of him to point that out. >> yeah. >> thank you. >> it's true. >> he said that very nicely. the crab meat caucus is not a bad thing to be. everything ends up being about food, for good or bad. mika can tell you. >> well, actually, let's just go

there. so when you were a teenager, you wrecked your mother's car and got a job at mcdonald's to pay for the repairs. so what did you learn about making big macs? >> a lot. my hair smelled like big mac sauce for a year. >> oh, honey, i would have been so in love with you. >> i think i might have -- >> seriously? i would have -- i would have followed you around like a dog. >> i would have too. >> i mean, i actually sort of learned a lot about the benefit of punching a clock. there is a quote in the essay i wrote about working at mcdonald's from snoop dogg saying, look, even if you're just making hamburgers, make them the best you can make. there is something to be said for that. on the other hand, i had a manager with a drinking problem, night manager and he would say, okay, y'all, nobody use the coke dispenser on the far left because he mixed it with bourbon and i know we all screwed up. no telling how many aa members

or 5-year-olds or whatever -- >> so your love of big macs, really comes with my book segment coming up, involves an addiction to them. i still occasionally crave a mcdonald's burger. see, i don't just occasionally crave them. big mac sauce to me is like m madeline, reminds me of the jackson browne songs i listened to on my way to and from manning the counter. >> and serving bourbon and cokes. apparently, joe has even more sort of lustier thoughts about special sauce. >> smear it all over. awesome. i love that -- so when you were growing up in washington, you learned at -- >> well, i was growing up in mississippi but i got to washington. >> you got to washington when you were young. and you learned sort of at the feet of the masters as far as

entertaining. >> i did. >> alson's. >> in those days when i was there in the late '70s, early '80s, the last heyday of those incredible salon-like dinner parties that susan mary alsop would throw and kate graham and where stuff really happened. when susan and joe were still married, that's where kennedy stopped by after the inauguration with jackie. but so stuff -- like, you know, you would be sitting around and major decisioning would be happening, but apparently at those parties they used to want -- susan mary explained to me later, we need a bright young thing, meaning somebody that wasn't 150 years old. so one time her bright young thing fell through and she called me. i think i was 20. and i had -- i mean, i had no idea. but you know, i thought i was pretty smart. and then i get there, and i mean, i'm just sort of star struck and sitting in between -- reagan must have been president because i'm sitting between casper weinberger and general

sk skoecroft. >> great guy. >> very. >> and at one point casper puts his hand on me and says if there is anything i can ever do for you. secretary of defense, no joke, what can you do for me, i'm a sophomore in college. but he was actually really nice. but those -- >> yeah. >> those things were -- >> in a sort of sweet sort of way nice. >> but they were dazzling dinner patients. >> by the way, can i just say that actually was the real weinberger doctrine. if there is anything i can do for you. >> no, it's to bad those things don't exist anymore. that is a perfect example of how food and entertaining can be central to bigger stuff. >> to sex. okay. the book is -- >> or great -- >> "mama always put vodka in the sangria," julia reed. >> great. >> i think we need to have julia back to finish the story. >> we'll read the book. up next, the new issue of "vanity fair." "morning joe" will be right back. i'm so glad you called. thank you.

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♪ all right. joining us now, deputy editor for "vanity fair" dana brown. >> so much to talk about. >> on the new issue of the magazine with brad on the cover. >> brad is always on the cover.

>> of course he is. >> nonstop. >> every three weeks. >> we wish. we wish. we love him. >> we were talking about brad pitt's problems, this movie "world war z." man, talk about just a money pit. >> well, yes. you know there are a lot of money pits in film these days. hollywood has become a money pit in a big way. and, you know, this film -- is -- and it's funny, because it's brad pitt trying to engineer a franchise for himself, essentially. he optioned a book, "world war z" book in 2005 or 2006. and this story takes us through that whole period. >> so they get like $200 million into this thing and they figure out the movie doesn't work. >> yeah. >> but keep writing checks. is that a bad thing? i don't know much about hollywood, i guess that's bad. >> it's not a good thing to be in 150 million bucks and realize that half your movie doesn't work. and that's what happened here. and so they called in -- this

was after they shot the film, showed it, and just looked and i think shook their heads and said this doesn't work. >> why didn't it work? >> there was no ending. i think there was no ending, the ending didn't work. so what they ended up doing was they called daymon lindeloff, famous for "lost" and said can you fix this. and he came in and rewrote at least a third of the movie. >> that's where the money is, rewriti rewriting. >> that's where the money is, rewriting, i'm sure they paid him a pretty penny. so they reshot for a month. >> do they feel better about it now? >> we're trying to get a sense. we don't know. >> that's rough. >> i think we won't know until june 21st when it comes out. and summer block busters, every weekend. if you don't hit it big on that weekend, you're in trouble. "world war z" comes out the world after channing tatum's, which will be a big one. >> another story of manti te'o,

the boy who cried dead girlfriend. what does "vanity fair" tell us that no one else has told us yet? >> it's funny, because when i picked up this story, i was convinced, and i don't know about you guys, i was convinced that manti te'o was part of it. >> yeah. >> did you -- what did you guys -- did you guys think back then? >> sure. >> absolutely, of course. >> absolutely. >> i still thought that. and after reading this story, i have doubts. and i'm not sure -- >> can i say this politely, is the guy just dumb? >> i'm not -- i'm not going to come out and say that. i'm not going to say he's dumb. i think he's young. >> exactly. >> very sheltered. >> he's a superstar of notre dame. and he's on -- he's on twitter following a girlfriend -- there are a lot of real girls at notre dame who probably -- >> it's complicated. and he did get caught in a bit of a lie. >> could be the concussion syndrome. >> it's early, early onset. >> stop it. >> so -- >> and i think this -- i was

watching the draft -- was it last week or the week before and he dropped to the second round, ended up in san diego, which i think is a good thing for him. >> close to his girlfriend. >> close to his girlfriend. anywhere is close to his girlfriend, apparently. >> my lord. stop. >> instagram, the sell of instagram, obviously, to facebook, and 2012, it was a great tale. but it's been a roller coaster ride for the founder. it's not been all -- >> it hasn't been. you create -- what's amazing, the speed this stuff happens in silicon valley. you create an app, 18 months later, you sell it for a billion dollars. mark zuckerberg calls you over to his house and says i'll give you a billion dollars. >> what's the down side to that? >> there is a lot of up side. the down side, $700 million was in facebook stock which is down by a couple hundred million. >> that's confederate money now. >> exactly. >> speaking of millions, steven a. cohen, the hunt -- >> they have been after him for

such a long time. >> after him, on him for months and months. he goes out and buys two mega properties and paintings. >> he bought -- the painting i think was $140 million, $120 million. he bought a picasso from steve wynn. yeah. it's strange behavior for someone who also just settled with the government for something like $700 million, without admitting guilt. but the government has been peeling the onion on this one and sort of getting closer and closer. and it's a fabulous tale of, you know, people turning in foremen, and, you know, the hedge fund industry, and i think in the story we talk quite a bit about this is just, you know, full of insider trader. not the whole thing, but there is a lot going on. and, you know, they're starting to catch these guys. >> it's interesting, joe, that no matter how much money steven a. cohen has, and he's a billionaire, no one has more money or more time than department of justice. >> yeah. and i think he's worth $10 billion at this point. and you know what he's going to be most mad about in this story is --

>> what's that? >> the illustration of him as moby dick. i don't know if you guys have that. >> well so -- that suggests that maybe the justice department is obsessed with steven cohen? >> i don't know -- >> there it is, on the screen. is that an unfair -- the justice department unfairly targeting him? >> i -- you know, it's hard to say. >> read the article. >> there you go. you know, he's -- has a system in place at his hedge fund that protects him a little bit. he's got the group around him that report to him and come to him, and invest. and he's got i think $2 billion he invests himself. and if you give him good investments and he gets that 20, 30% off it, you're in good shape. you give him something that doesn't pan out, not in good shape. >> i see maureen north. what is she writing? >> she did this wonderful story

on sarkozy and carla bruni. a new album. lovely story. and sarkozy comeback, maybe. >> cover story of the new issue, "brad's big bet." thank you so much. great to have you on. >> great to be here. up next, the science behind the addiction. michael moss and dr. emily senay are here to discuss america's obsession with food. we'll be right back with much more "morning joe." what do you think? that's great. it won't take long, will it? nah. okay. this, won't take long will it?

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♪ going back to the locker room, and it was a game-time decision. he worked out the last couple days, worked out earlier today. the decision was made he just could not go and it was better to let him rest up for perhaps game number six so he'll be ready for friday night. but he did have time after the game to visit and give us his thoughts.

>> when i hear thado that, i ge arrested. dr. emily senay and michael moss wrote a ground-breaking book. they're going to join the discussion, the obsession with eating. and hope, empowerment for women. we'll be right back. the math of retirement is different today. money has to last longer. i don't want to pour over pie charts all day. i want to travel, and i want the income to do it. ishares incomes etfs. low cost and diversified. find out why nine out of ten large professional investors choose ishares for their etfs. ishares by blackrock. call 1-800-ishares for a prospectus, which includes investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses. read and consider it carefully before investing. risk includes possible loss of principal.

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with us now, investigative

reporter from the "new york times" and author of the book, "salt sugar fat" how the food giants hooked us. medical correspondent for pbs, need to know dr. emily senay. and you know, the review said the timely message of mika's book, "obsessed makes us smart," personalized complement to the advocacy of michael moss. and "salt sugar fat." you always seem to be athe trend, you wrote "knowing your value" -- and i remember when you were writing this book, the thing that you were the most worried about was the addiction part of it. because you always kept getting pushback at the beginning of the process. i don't know if i would use the word addiction. then suddenly this book comes out, mike's book comes out. and you -- so you've got a hopeful message here to women. >> yes. and i -- and before we get to that, i will talk about the word

"addiction" because i think people actually laughed at me. and that's what the fear was, when the book came out, which is why i was so, so, so happy to see the work that you have done. because there really is a growing amount of science that is showing that the ingredients that you write about, that i wasn't just feeling something alone. >> right. >> for 30 years. there was something driving it. >> the importance to that, is it not, and i heard this on the "today" show yesterday, that the odds are stacked against so many women and men who are trying to lose weight. because of these addiction issues. >> absolutely. and i think it leads to eating disorders and sometimes obesity. but what we look for in this book is a way through that. number one, to really be educated about what exactly it is you're eating. and what the certain foods do to the brain reward centers in your brain so that you can work your way around it. you can retrain your taste buds. you can find your set point. these are all realistic, long term things you can do. >> what is your set point? >> my set point is 135. >> yeah. >> and is i was trying to be

120. that was just impossible. a constant battle. i was always hungry, miserable and emaciated. >> you were 120 when you started and now -- >> i was 118 when i started and now i'm 135. >> diane, your good friend for years. >> 256. she was -- she was really big. and is she has lost 75 pounds now and moving on to 100. >> she looks great. >> looks amazing. >> what is her set point? >> we don't know. and that's the interesting thing when you talk to people who -- every woman is going to have a different way of getting and finding. some it's a mental process and others a physical process like for diane. now let's move to addiction. emily, it's not proven. >> no. >> but there is science point to go it. >> there is science pointing to it, and i think what is so great about your book and michael's book, the fact that whether or not we completely understand the mechanism of action for food addiction, we certainly know that we can engineer things to exploit some mechanism of action

to make people want to eat more than they should. >> right. >> and i think that's what michael finds so brilliantly in his book, is how people, very intelligent, sophisticated, scientists are doing just that. even though they may not understand completely why it works in the brain, the science is coming along there. but they seem to be finding ways to addict us. >> so michael, mika's message to people, it's not just your fault. there's a reason why you've tried 1,000 diets in your life, and it always seems like the odds are stacked against you. this obsession might actually be part of a bigger problem. >> yeah, look. the food industry wasn't laughing when your book came out. they were cringing. there's no word they hate more than the "a" word, addiction. but their own lingo is so revealing, snackable, more, cravable. it's a moot point. they are spending -- >> super-size. >> super-size, yes.

they are expending every ounce of their energy to make their products as attractive as possible. look, these are companies doing what companies do. >> so when you investigated this, talk about the addiction process. how does it -- >> how does it engineer the food? >> engineering is incredible? they have some of the most genius scientists on staff achieving -- the perfect formulas, especially for sugar and fat and salt. i spent time with a legend, howard moskowitz who walked me through his most recent creation of soda for dr. pepper and to achieve what he calls the bliss point, the precise amount of sugar that would send us over the moon, he started with 61 different formulas, each just slightly different than the other in terms of sweetness, submitted those to 3,000 consumer taste tests, threw it in his computer and came up with a very precise amount. an incredible amount of engineering. >> because at the end, mika, that's -- that engineering leads to sales, leads to billions and billions of dollars in revenue. >> leads to obesity, in my opinion. >> two out of three americans

are obese right now. >> yeah. >> overweight. >> and emily, these numbers, you can't look at chris christie and say he's undisciplined. by the way, he and i talked about this. the news that's out today. he did get the surgery, confirms on the phone to us. there are other people that we talked to in the book who point to something more going on about this food that is -- we're surrounded with, completely. >> well, i'm going to use a word that probably is inflammatory, but reminds me of other products. tobacco. reminds me of tobacco. and how we, you know, how it took time to really understand what was going on. and for people to become fully educated about tobacco. is tobacco solved? no. but i sort of think we need to start talking in those terms about food. and i think at the end of the day, it's going to be moms. moms who learn about this, and understand and want to protect

their children are the ones who are going to make the change. and i have to say, i think you've started that ball rolling, mika. >> so mika, the remarkable part of this book that you've written are the interviews -- from nora ephron, chris christie, and very revealing, as revealing as your personal stories and your difficulties. but talk about chris christie, getting very emotional talking. >> well, it's frustrating for him. you know, do you -- it must be -- he can't even explain to the point of frustration how hard it is to be called horrible names, to be called undisciplined, to be taunted, to be bullied online and for people to make fun of him for something he has been trying everything, everything. and this surgery, which i'm proud of him for getting, is the last option for a lot of people. my collaborator on the book, diane smith, she almost got the surgery. did the last measures right before it.

and that's how hard it is to lose weight once you've become obese, because the chips are stacked against you in our food environment. we have to learn about it, and we have to push through this. we have to talk about it. >> no doubt. all right. >> not be afraid. >> michael, emily, thank you very much. coming up next, what, if anything, did we learn today. we have to continue this conversation. lane ] do you evel like you're growing old waiting for your wrinkle cream to work? clinically proven neutrogena® rapid wrinkle repair. it targets fine lines and wrinkles with the fastest retinol formula available. you'll see younger looking skin in just one week. one week? that's just my speed. rapid wrinkle repair. and for dark spots rapid tone repair. from neutrogena®.

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learned today. obsessed, just burning up the charts, selling books, mike. it's insane. >> moving product. >> and tonight we're going to be in philadelphia, the philadelphia free library. be there in philly, 7:30. >> have a great day, everybody. >> chuck todd, take it away. >> see you, chuck. north by southeast. voters are voting, and by tonight we'll know if mark sanford's comeback quest is a success or if elizabeth colbert-busch is the state's pick to head to the house. also this morning, will congress say yes to directly arming the rebels in syria. we're going to talk to the man leading that push, bob menendez. and a steady stream of retirements is turning to a new generation. 40% turnover in the last five years. why are both parties having a hard time not just keeping senators but finding new top-notch candidates to